Nairobi’s Long Rains: A failure in Urban Resilience?

Bio: Constant Cap has a MasterÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. He holds an undergraduate degree from the same university. He writes about urban planning issues online and in local dailies. Born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya he passionate about the planning issues facing African Cities. He has a deep interest in sustainable transportation, urban resilience and new urbanism. He is also a Graduate Member of the Town and County Planners Association of Kenya. He has previously worked at the Strathmore University Advancement Office. He currently works as the Executive Director of Kilimani Project Foundation.

Amid promises by both local and central governments, little has changed and this year the city has been hit by a bigger tragedy with the collapse of a 7- storey residential building during the recent heavy rains. At the time of writing, several bodies were yet to be found,33 people had been confirmed dead and rescue efforts were still on going. More recently, a leading supermarket had to temporarily close down after it over-flooded (investigations indicate that the shopping mall that hosts the supermarket is built on top of a river!).

Towards the end of 2015, the central government allocated about Ksh 5 billion (50 million USD) towards resilience and disaster management in preparation for the forecasted El-Nino rains. It took Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â concerted efforts by resident associations and interest groups to pressure both county and Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â central government into getting some work done in this regard. Some sincere efforts were made in realigning roads and re-designing some drainage systems. Clearly, however, what was done was not enough as evidenced by press reports indicating mismanagement of most of the allocated funds.

Urban resilience refers to the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses and systems within a city to survive, adapt and grow, no matter what kinds of chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience. Such ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‹Å“acute shocksÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ range from earthquakes, sudden floods and disease outbreaks to heatwaves and other disasters.

For a city to be resilient, certain fundamental parameters must exist including Leadership, Health, Economy and Infrastructure. Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â Nairobi’s long rains occur every year around April-May and this begs the question as to whether theyÃƒâ€šÃ‚Â come as an acute shock or Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â whether the city is just not well managed.

A resilient City is expected to provide infrastructure that ensures reliable communication and mobility in a time of crisis, continuity of critical services as well as enhancing Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â the utility of man-made assets.

Kenya has legislation and policies to ensure that such tragedies are avoided; however,a culture of impunity has ensured that little is implemented. There have been several commissions and studies involving development control, building quality and environmental protection. The most recent was a study that revealed that about 75% of the buildings in Nairobi did not meet the legislated Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â building standards.

If the city cannot handle the effects of its own annual climatic cycle, what would be the scenario if an ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‹Å“acute shockÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ were to occur? How should Nairobi prepare for its annual long rains? How does your city prepare annual climatic challenges?

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5 comments:

poor planning and corruption should be punished severely as this is destroying the country in a major way. if the building was to be abolished why was the concerned authorities so relaxed about the looming danger.

Good points raised. We however need to address our bad attitude towards our environment to avert a looming crisis. So many people still dump garbage and pieces of papers anywhere they feel they are done with them. This ultimately blocks the already inadequate drainage facilities we have. We really need to have a conversation on this before its too late. You cannot imagine having fuel leaks from Service Stations on rainy seasons. Such leaks mixing with water can be catastrophic.